His biggest supporter. Mark Ruffalo and wife Sunrise Coigney have been together since the late ‘90s — and their connection has only grown over time.
The pair met by chance while walking the streets of Los Angeles in 1998 with a mutual friend, whom the Avengers actor believed might have had a crush on Coigney as well. “I don’t think he wanted us to meet,” he recalled to Men’s Journal of meeting his wife in May 2013. “But I saw her and was like, ‘I’m going to marry that girl.’”
At the time of their first interaction, Ruffalo was a struggling actor living in a converted garage without a driver’s license or credit card. Despite his lack of success at the time, the Louisiana native believed in her future partner’s talent.
“She was like, ‘I know you’re a really good actor,’ and I was like, ‘You haven’t really seen me act yet.’ And she was like, ‘I just know it, I can tell,’” he recalled in the 2013 interview.
After two years of dating, the twosome tied the knot in 2000. One year into their marriage, the 13 Going on 30 actor was diagnosed with a brain tumor that required surgery. At the time, Coigney was pregnant with their first child.
“When these things happen, you sort of remember your religion a little bit,” Ruffalo opened up about his health scare to the Acoustic Neuroma Association in 2013. “I was praying and bargaining with God … I said, ‘Please, don’t take my face and don’t take my life because without my face I can’t really support my family, and [without] my life, I definitely can’t support my family.’”
The surgery was a success, and the couple welcomed their first child, son Keen, in 2001. Ruffalo and Coigney later expanded their family with daughters Bella in 2005 and Odette in 2007.
As their kids got older, Ruffalo revealed to Us Weekly that his children think his job is “cool” — but that doesn’t translate to dad duties.
“They’re like, ‘You’re not that cool,’” the Spotlight actor said in 2015 “‘They’re like, ‘Big woop, dad. I want to see you angry.’ That’s what they say to me. ‘I’m going to get you angry.’”
Two decades after they wed, the She-Hulk star penned a touching tribute to his wife and mother of his three children. “To My Hero. Always holding it all together,” Ruffalo wrote via Instagram in May 2020. “A fierce advocate for her kids, always on point no matter how tough it gets. Happy Mother’s Day, Sunny. It isn’t easy being a Mom and one day a year isn’t close to enough to celebrate how much work it is and how grateful we should be. We love you, SunnyMom. Thank you for all you do. Happy Mother’s Day.”
The next year, Ruffalo’s family was by his side as he virtually won a Golden Globe for his role in the mini-series I Know This Much is True. During his speech, the Marvel actor thanked his family.
“[They] let me go off and bring these crazy people home and they have to live with [them] all these years,” Ruffalo gushed. “Thank you, guys.”
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